Rohit Sharma defends batting first against KXIP

Mumbai Indians suffered a 7 wicket loss at the hands of the lowly ranked Kings XI Punjab at Vizag last night. Skipper Rohit Sharma believes it is time to come up with better performances now. With the defeat, the Mumbai Indians are now in a position to press the panic button, something that they are used to do since last couple of editions of IPL and emerging on top.

One of the biggest highlights of the match was the toss. Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first, something that has not been the winning trend of the season thus far. However, the Mumbai batsman defended his decision to bat first after the match. When asked if chasing would have been a better option, he quickly said “Not really, no.”

He further added that the wicket kept getting slower and had they posted a total close to 140, it would have been a tough chase for KXIP. “See, the wicket keeps getting slower and slower. When Harbhajan was bowling, he was turning it miles. It was never going to be easy, even 140. We can’t say that, because we didn’t put enough runs on the board. Had it been around 140 or 130 or 135, it would have been a different ball game,” quoted Sharma.

Citing that keeping wickets held the key in the batting department, Sharma said that it was all about keeping wickets in hand in the power play. He admitted that the Mumbai batsmen kept going for the shots and eventually lost wickets in a heap.

“It was the matter of getting through the first six overs. They batted without losing wickets. When you have a score in front of you which is 125, you don’t have to take that many risks. For us, when we batted, we thought we had to bat in the first six overs really well and put pressure on them. That is why we went for shots and by doing that, we lost wickets. For them, it was a challenge to get through the first six overs nicely. They did, and after that there was no pressure on them,” quoted a dejected Rohit.

He also defended the batsmen saying the wicket was a tough one; it was gripping and turning miles. He pointed out the fact that getting in excess of 9 runs towards the end would have been a tough ask on the wicket.

“When you play on these kinds of wickets where the ball is turning and stopping, it’s not easy for the batsmen. You’ve just got to rotate (the strike) as much as possible initially. If you don’t, the pressure just keeps building. We all saw in the last three games that were played here. It is so difficult to get eight or nine an over in the end, because the wicket keeps getting slower and slower. So, it’s important that you capitalise on the first six overs really well,” quoted the Indian opener.

Also, read – IPL 9, Match 43: MI v KXIP – Statistical Highlights